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Saturday, May 5, 2012

20,000 words and Getting a Round Tuit

Tom, from Love on a Transfer, has finally arrived in Cambridge. Taking a walk around town he finds the mysterious Round Church and buys a postcard with a picture of a Round Tuit. Now he has no excuse to put off getting on with his life. But the girl of his dreams is due to get married here in just a few days. His head's spinning round.

Meanwhile my book review list includes a book set in the other place! I'm due to read Andrea Kaufman's Oxford Messed Up pretty soon, and I just heard it was just
awarded the Best Adult Fiction E-Book Gold Medal in the “IPPY” Awards--awards that reward those who exhibit the courage, innovation, and creativity
to bring about change in the world of publishing, or so I'm told. Plus it's only 99cents on Amazon kindle at the moment (http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Messed-Up-ebook/dp/B0063UQVM2/), so if you want an e-visit to the other place, now's the time to buy your copy!

This week's reading included two short ebooks by A.F. Stewart, Existence and Even the Paranormal play Sports. Both short stories are filled with surprises, in the author's characteristic style, with spare and vividly real narration, and thoroughly intriguing concepts that will keep you pondering long after you've read them. Enjoy with 2-star lively easy-drinking coffee.

Upsetting the Tides, by David Englund is a considerably longer read. The internal and external dialog make me think of those TV shows with inept male leads dashing from crisis to crisis. The world might be about to end, but what the protagonist really wants is to keep his new toy and find out whether the girl likes him. It's a mild crisp read, best enjoyed with a 1-star mild crisp coffee.

My other short book was Mary Manners' Wounded Faith which I've reviewed for Nights and Weekends. I'll let you know when the review gets posted there. Another short story, this one's a truly uplifting gentle romance with its view of forgiveness and the strength to move on. Drink a well-balanced 3-star coffee with this one.

And finally, Linda Nance's I will not give up... not today... life is a journey is a fascinating blend of memoir, essays on the road to publishing something worthwhile, and spiritual musings. While I don't read many memoirs, Linda's story of perseverance and protection has a lot to offer, and her bravery in going back to college to hone her writing skills is to be seriously commended. A surprisingly rich, elegant and complex book, this one should be read with a 4-star rich, complex coffee.